Republican convention goers last night said nominee John McCain's speech, which relied heavily on images from his military service and captivity in Vietnam, introduced him to an American public still unfamiliar with his narrative.

In interviews after the balloons and confetti fell to the floor of the Xcel Centre and the thunderous applause quieted, Republican party activists and officials said the speech rallied the party around a candidate of whom many were initially sceptical.

"He was there tonight to make people see the true man that he really is," said Ray Ouelette of Rhode Island. "A man who works with honour, has achieved honour, and who is bringing honour to this presidency that need to be recharged with honour."

Republicans in the hall for the 50-minute speech said McCain appropriately and gently criticised Democratic nominee Barack Obama without making him the focus of the address.

"He laid it out very clear that you either have a liberal big-government, free-spending Barack Obama," said JT Waggoner, leader of the Republican party in the Alabama state senate, "or you have a tax-cutting, smaller-government John McCain."

Wendell Moore of Tennessee said it is not John McCain's style to launch fusillades at political opponents.

"Other people, like the Rudy Giulianis of the world, the Fred Thompsons, that was their job," Moore said, referring to McCain's erstwhile rivals who addressed the convention earlier this week.

"He did make some distinctions on some critical issues where they're different. That's what we will continue to see him do."

In the speech McCain did not lay out many specific policy details, but party delegates and other Republicans said those will come down within the next two months of the race.

"What he did was try to restore some pride," said Roger Romine, a state legislator from West Virginia. "He didn't have time to get into specifics. I'm sure he'll get into that on the campaign trail but tonight was just to let the people know where he stood, his vision for America, and where we are going, not necessarily how we're going to get there."

But not all party activists were thrilled. A contingent of supporters of Ron Paul, a Libetarian congressman who launched an insurgent challenge to McCain and other more established candidates, said the speech did not gibe with McCain's record, for instance his support for a more liberal immigration programme.

Stephen Hardy, a delegate from Washington state, also disliked the martial rhetoric.

"I don't think we need to have an aggressive foreign policy," he said. "I don't think we need this pre-emptive war. I saw signs that said 'peace through strength.' That's not what it's about. It's about peace through freedom, and minding our liberties."

Phyllis Haggard of Michigan said the speech energised party activists, who must now spend the next two months rallying voters behind McCain.

"Overall, his dedication to his country, what he's given, his experience, I think his true caring for the American people came out very clearly," she said. "Campaigning is hard work. When we get back they'll be all set to go to work."